I know that many of you probably never heard of the RHEM series, especially if you're not into first-person puzzle games.

It is one of my favorite game series of all time and still believe it is superior to Myst. I always wanted these games to appear on GOG, so I said to myself "why don't you ask Mr. genius himself?" :)

I sent an email to the creator and, among other things, asked him about releasing his games on GOG. Besides replying very fast, he was very kind as well. And now comes the disappointment.

The man actually had asked GOG for a release and they rejected his games because they are "niche".

@GOG #1: Despite the whole mess of the past weeks, you're supposed to be a "gamer-friendly" platform. If you want to be gamer-friendly you don't please your customers only with popular or AAA releases (I don't object to that, on the contrary I like seeing people happy to get those here). But, you also have to help your gamers discover games that are worthy of their time, games that didn't even come close to the spotlight when released but are made with much care.

@GOG #2: The developer actually still wants to release the games here, despite getting the "niche" treatment like many others.

Please excuse my tone above but I see many games inferior to RHEM pass the "curation" process here and it is extremely disappointing.

Nevertheless, the developer went the extra mile and provided me with links to alternative store where the games can be purchased free of DRM, so if anyone wants I can post them here.

[edit: syntax]

What store is that?

RHEM 1, 2 and 4 are on Steam

Not my sort of game, but the usual procedure when creating such a thread is to link the wishlist for the game:
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/rhem_rhem2_rhem3_and_rhem4

Relevant community wishlist entries:
* (190) Rhem
* (148) Rhem trilogy
* (120) RHEM, RHEM2, RHEM3 and RHEM4
* ...and then a further 7 wishes with <100 votes for the individual titles and further duplicates.

The games are on Steam, but the developer himself proposed to me some links which will provide DRM-free copies.

RHEM I SE (link 1)
RHEM I SE (link 2)
RHEM II SE
RHEM IV SE (link 1)
RHEM IV SE (link 2)

He also told me that RHEM III SE will be released on Steam soon as well as DRM-free on some of the above stores. Yes I know, I intended to post these but forgot. Thanks for the help :)

May I ask what the difference between RHEM and RHEM 1 SE: The Mysterious Land is? Is it a remake?

Gameplay-wise, the Special Editions of the four games add new areas with some extra puzzles in order to obtain 4 pieces of a medallion (a quarter of the medallion in each game). This medallion is supposed to be important for RHEM V (not yet developed).

Also, the SE versions run in higher resolutions than the original games.

Thanks for the info!

Put my vote in to show support.

The "niche" response has come up a number of times in the past, however a number of games that were considered "niche" have eventually made it to GOG, so keep hitting the wishlist and spreading the word.

Thanks, each vote counts!

I am 100% sure that GOG's "curators" never even try to play the games they like to call "niche". They probably look at 2 or 3 screenshots and apply their baseless "curation" filters.

(If at least one of the "curators" is a puzzle/adventure games fan, or even just Myst fan, there's no way they could have rejected this series without even playing for a couple of hours. And if they did play, I'm sure they wouldn't reject it in the first place.)

At a quick glance at your site reference looks like a myst style game to which GOG already has on here.
However without much of a following I can see why they might put it in the not financial for GOG bin to which i believe their 'niche' moniker actually implies.
Add on top of this you don't really wish to have a greenlight like wild west on here; it's hard enough to use the store as it is.

i'd wager that sometimes those "niche" games that do get published here managed to have some extra leverage that changed gog's mind. as in they could afford to pay a bit more to have them here. it's an attitude that gets reflected across all media though. but yeah, gog's "curation" is confusing at best.

True, that can be the case often. What worries me though is that by the time GOG may actually take a peek at such a game, it may already look "dated" for the "curators" (translate: "niche").

I think Rhem's best shot at a DRM-free store is probably Itch, not GOG. It is my hope that Itch can become the go-to place for that, since GOG has been going corporate for quite a while now.